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Anti-CAA protesters in Delhi gather at India Gate

PTI | Updated: Dec 20, 2019, 22:53 IST

Protestors hold placards during a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Delhi Gate in N...Read More

NEW DELHI: Scores of people gathered at the India Gate here to voice their dissent against the new citizenship law and a proposed countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC). Raising slogans of 'Azaadi', 'No NRC, No CAA', the protesters, most of them college students, demanded that the new law be repealed. The national capital has witnessed a slew of protests against the amended citizenship law. "On December 15, police barged into the university and used tear gas. I was in the washroom of the new reading hall. Around 30-40 police personnel attacked two students. During that incident, I sustained a head injury and the irony is that the police have filed a case of culpable homicide against me. Police have destroyed the library of the university," said Chandan Kumar, a Jamia Millia Islamia student. The protesters were carrying placards with different slogans, including 'Modi do you need hug bro', 'time to celebrate Rudolph not Adolf' and 'bure din wapas do' (bring back bad days). The BJP had promised 'achhe din' (good days) in its election campaign. "My family came to India from Bangladesh after 1971. In this Bill, the government said they will give citizenship to those who are religiously persecuted, including Hindu and Sikh, in three countries. You are saying that they are the minorities in those countries. If this is the criteria, then will you accept the Indian Muslims in Sri Lanka or Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. We are not opposing this just because it is anti-Muslim, but it is anti-human too," said Raju Sarkar, a student of Jamia. Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Salman Khurshid also came to India Gate to support the student protest. "Everyone should oppose this bill because its intention is wrong. If you want to give citizenship to a person who is harassed or in trouble, then do not ask them about their religion and country from where they have come. Detention camp in any country means the end of the democracy," said Khurshid. The protesters were raising slogans against the CAA, NRC and the government. They were also singing patriotic and revolutionary songs -- 'Sare Jahan se Accha' and 'Hum honge kamyab'. "The CAA won't be accepted on the basis of religion. We won't stop here and this will go ahead. We want government to repeal CAA," said N Sai Balaji, former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president. The protests were mostly from different colleges, including Jamia Millia Islamia, JNU and Jamia Hamdard. "This is about nation and you are playing with the Constitution. Only one suggestion we want to tell you is that take NRC and CAA back," Adil Aslam (22), Jamia Hamdard student. A top official said on Friday the government is ready to accept suggestions, if any, from the people who are staging protests and asserted that various efforts were being made to clear doubts of the people about the new law. Anjali, a retired economic professor, said it was her first protest. "This is the first time I have come to a protest. I think this is the breaking point and the people need to raise their voice against this issue," she said.